I have recently been spending too much time doing other things and getting side-tracked which has resulted in another long delay between blogs.

I have been suffering from some digestive problems for about a year now, and since before Christmas have been having fairly intensive investigations. At first it appeared to be a problem with lactose, and I felt a lot better during the 3 months I eliminated lactose, and was surprised that the postponed lactose test was inconclusive. So now I am eliminating milk proteins entirely for a month.

Its is saddening to see how many parents are trying to cope with feeding their infants and toddlers who have a wide range of food allergies, lactose, milk protein, soya, eggs, nuts …. That is so tough. I am fortunate to have lived so long without problems.

It seems that digestive difficulties might run in my family, and my sister, niece and nephew suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome(IBS). I will investigate their “trigger foods” to see if they are also irritable for me.

Luckily I have found that dark chocolate contains minimal milk and I can eat it without problems. Its amazing how many of my previously favourite foods, milk chocolate, yoghurt, greek yogurt, cream, ice cream, pastries, cream cakes, profiteroles, tiramisu are out of bounds! But I have found that there are dairy free dessert alternatives (I can always find room for a pudding) and it just means making a bit more effort.

April has slipped by very quickly with successive visits from friends in the UK, which of course means going out and about and doing the sights.

We visited Kitty Harri’s Sculpture gardenagain and felt uplifted by the creative way that the sculptures are placed in the garden, and this time there was an added sonorous melodic chiming of some cleverly placed wind chimes. Sublime!

It has been a VERY long time since my last blog post. During this time I have been developing my interests here in Spain and settling in to the new environment. (Did I say I changed my hair colour to red last year?)

I have also been busy being a blog editor for the Axarquia Garden Club website over this period.

Before I moved the blog onto a WordPress platform I also edited the website on a Google blogger platform.

And as of today I am also blog editor for a local young Golf Professional Borja Cabello, who my husband Tom and I are helping to develop his professional golfing career. It’s tough to make your way in a new career without a sound financial backing, and we are hoping Borja can develop more sponsors and shareholders to support him during 2016.

Why not have a look at his website here Borja Cabello. And please follow the link there to have a look at his Facebook page and “Like” his page

Funnily enough it has been more interesting and rewarding supporting both these ventures than promoting my own website.

Since coming to Spain I have pretty much retired from my formal coaching business, preferring to work in a voluntary / mentoring capacity.

I have taken opportunities to develop my personal and spiritual interests, and this is the reason for changing the name of this blog to Inspiracion y la Luz. (Inspiration and Light) and I have also changed the name of my Facebook page to Inpiration and Light. The Facebook link on the website sidebar seems to have broken since the name change. Something to have a look at ….

In February we returned briefly to the UK to visit Tom’s sister who was, sadly, to lose her fight against Cancer. The experience of spending time at her bedside during her last few days was very profound for me. Also so terribly sad.

That’s not to say that our life in Spain has been easy. Any new country presents challenges, and we have faced very many in our process of integrating as Spanish residents. Things are not as clear cut here as in the UK when it comes to local planning legislation and land law, and we have encountered some major difficulties. That said, we have also benefitted from the support of our new English, German and Spanish friends. I am not saying I could write a book – it would be more of a horror story – and we are still not out of the woods. But I live in hope that an end to these worries may soon be in sight.

As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

– Marianne Williamson – Author and Speaker

The quotation made me think of the lovely Christmas lights in old Malaga. We visited the Christmas lights for the first time in December 2014, taking a trip with the Phoenix Club. They were truly spectacular, and the city at night is very beautiful.

Having visited old Malaga we realised how much easier it is to drive into Malaga than we thought, and how beautiful the old part of the city and port are. We decided that it was definitely time to plan a revisit. And today we drove into Malaga to collect some paperwork from the Junta offices. No problem!

I have been neglecting the blog as I made no blog posts during 2014. My excuse? Well we have moved to Spain and have been settling into our new life here. Joining clubs, becoming part of the fabric of the community, and well – coaching has taken a back burner.

But I have gathered the resolve to streamline and improve…. So my blog now has a new heading – Dr Judith Sunley – Life Coach, instead of “The Doctor’s Reflections”.

Most of the Summer 2014 was taken up with a visit to France to visit my sister’s French farmhouse – which is a work in progress – and substantially with our grand daughter’s extended visit and other holiday visitors. We had a good summer.

Then just before the end of August my husband tore his Achilles chasing after Rosie, and many weeks were taken up subsequently with surgery and rehabilitation.

In October we rescued our “abandonado perro” his name is Poco. It was my husband’s joke, as we have seen the suspected father who is a whopper of a dog, and Poco seems to be following in his father’s footsteps.

I had no wish for a 3rd dog, as we were happy with the balance of Rosie our runaway rescued black Labrador, and Jim our rescued border collie. I took some persauding to bring Poco home as that tiny puppy.

But here we are, 5 months later firmly thrilled with our 3rd dog who has integrated fully into the pack. It has been a lesson for me to open up my horizons and take a risk. We have had to go through puppy training, and dog training classes (for all 3), but it has paid off. Poco has a lovely life with us instead of scavenging on the streets, or at worst put down.